The invention relates to a device for conditioning bulk material such as lignite, hard coal, activated carbon, peat, waste wood. clarifier sludge, waste sludge, contaminated earth, catalysts, zeolites and filter cake, which contain vaporizable fractions, the flow of the material being maintained by means of a vibrating plate conveyor and the material being treated in a heating section and a downstream drying section, using an indirect heat exchange method. Such a process and device are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,554, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference.
Use of the device described in the aforementioned patent has shown that the bulk material to be treated is not always supplied in a state which offers favorable conditioning properties.